Operation “Seelöwe” (Sea Lion) Order of Battle, mid-September 1940 Army Group A Commander-in-Chief: Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt Chief of the General Staff: General der Infanterie Georg von Sodenstern Operations Officer (Ia): Oberst Günther Blumentritt 16th Army Commander-in-Chief: Generaloberst Ernst Busch Chief of the General Staff: Generalleutnant Walter Model Operations Officer (Ia): Oberst Hans Boeckh-Behrens Luftwaffe Commander (Koluft) 16th Army: Oberst Dr. med. dent. Walter Gnamm Division Command z.b.V. 454: Charakter als Generalleutnant Rudolf Krantz (This staff served as the 16th Army’s Heimatstab or Home Staff Unit, which managed the assembly and loading of all troops, equipment and supplies; provided command and logistical support for all forces still on the Continent; and the reception and further transport of wounded and prisoners of war as well as damaged equipment. General der Infanterie Albrecht Schubert’s XXIII Army Corps served as the 16th Army’s Befehlsstelle Festland or Mainland Command, which reported to the staff of Generalleutnant Krantz. The corps maintained traffic control units and loading staffs at Calais, Dunkirk, Ostend, Antwerp and Rotterdam.) FIRST WAVE XIII Army Corps: General der Panzertruppe Heinric h-Gottfried von Vietinghoff genannt Scheel (First-wave landings on English coast between Folkestone and New Romney) – Luftwaffe II./Flak-Regiment 14 attached to corps • 17th Infantry Division: Generalleutnant Herbert Loch • 35th Infantry Division: Generalleutnant Hans Wolfgang Reinhard VII Army Corps: Generaloberst Eugen Ritter von Schobert (First-wave landings on English coast between Rye and Hastings) – Luftwaffe I./Flak-Regiment 26 attached to corps • 1st Mountain Division: Generalleutnant Ludwig Kübler • 7th Infantry Division: Generalleutnant Eccard Freiherr von Gablenz SECOND WAVE V Army Corps: General der Infanterie Richard Ruoff (Transferred from the first to the second wave in early September 1940 so that the second echelons of the two first-wave corps could cross simultaneously with their first echelons) • 12th Infantry Division: Generalmajor Walter von Seydlitz-Kurzbach • 30th Infantry Division: General der Infanterie Kurt von Briesen XXXXI Army Corps: General der Panzertruppe Georg-Hans Reinhardt • 8th Panzer Division: Generalleutnant Adolf Kuntzen – Luftwaffe Light Flak-Abteilung 94 attached to division • 10th Panzer Division: Generalleutnant Ferdinand Schaal – Luftwaffe Light Flak- Abteilung 71 attached to division • 29th Infantry Division (Motorized): Generalmajor Walter von Boltenstern – Luftwaffe Light Flak-Abteilung 76 attached to division • Infantry Regiment “Großdeutschland”: Oberst Wilhelm- Hunold von Stockhausen • Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler Regiment: SS-Obergruppenführer Josef “Sepp” Dietrich THIRD WAVE IV Army Corps: General der Infanterie Viktor von Schwedler • 24th Infantry Division: Generalmajor Hans von Tettau • 58th Infantry Division: Generalmajor Iwan Heunert XXXXII Army Corps: General der Pionere Walter Kuntze • 45th Infantry Division: Generalleutnant Friedrich Materna • 164th Infantry Division: Generalmajor Josef Folttmann 9th Army (General der Artillerie Christian Hansen’s X Army Corps headquarters staff with the attached Luftwaffe I./Flak-Regiment 29 was in addition allocated to the 9th Army for use with the first-wave troops) Commander-in-Chief: Generaloberst Adolf Strauß Chief of the General Staff: Generalleutnant Karl Adolf Hollidt Operations Officer (Ia): Oberstleutnant Heinz von Gyldenfeldt Luftwaffe Commander (Koluft) 9th Army: (possibly) Generalmajor Maximilian Kieffer * Division Command z.b.V. 444: Generalmajor Alois Josef Ritter von Molo (This staff served as the 9th Army’s Heimatstab or Home Staff Unit, which managed the assembly and loading of all troops, equipment and supplies; provided command and logistical support for all forces still on the Continent; and the reception and further transport of wounded and prisoners of war as well as damaged equipment. It maintained loading staffs at Le Havre, Boulogne and Calais.) FIRST WAVE XXXVIII Army Corps: General der Infanterie Erich von Lewinski genannt von Manstein (First-wave landings on English coast between Bexhill and Eastbourne) – Luftwaffe I./Flak-Regiment 3 attached to corps • 26th Infantry Division: Generalleutnant Sigismund von Förster • 34th Infantry Division: Generalmajor Werner Sanne VIII Army Corps: General der Artillerie Walter Heitz (First-wave landings on English coast between Beachy Head and Brighton) – Luftwaffe I./Flak-Regiment 36 attached to corps • 6th Mountain Division: Generalmajor Ferdinand Schörner • 8th Infantry Division: Generalleutnant Rudolf Koch-Erpach • 28th Infantry Division: Generalmajor Johann Sinnhuber SECOND WAVE XV Army Corps: Generaloberst Hermann Hoth • 4th Panzer Division: Generalmajor Willibald Freiherr von Langermann und Erlencamp – Luftwaffe Light Flak-Abteilung 77 attached to division • 7th Panzer Division: Generalmajor Erwin Rommel – Luftwaffe Light Flak-Abteilung 86 attached to division • 20th Infantry Division (Motorized): Generalleutnant Mauritz von Wiktorin – Luftwaffe Light Flak-Abteilung 93 attached to division THIRD WAVE XXIV Army Corps: General der Panzertruppe Leo Freiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg • 15th Infantry Division: Generalleutnant Ernst-Eberhard Hell • 78th Infantry Division: Generalleutnant Curt Gallenkamp Airborne Formations 7th Flieger-Division (Parachute): Generalmajor Richard Putzier (under Generalfeldmarschall Albert Keßelring’s Luftflotte 2). The division was assigned drop zones in the area of Lyminge—Sellinge—Hythe on the right wing of the 16th Army and tasked with the immediate capture of the high ground north and northwest of Folkestone. The division consisted of Fallschirmjäger Regiments 1, 2 and 3 commanded by Oberst Bruno Bräuer, Oberst Alfred Sturm and Oberst Richard Heidrich respectively, and the Air Landing Assault Regiment commanded by Oberst Eugen Meindl. All four regiments were to be employed in the operation. 1. Kampfgruppe “Meindl” was to land at Hythe, secure crossings over the Royal Military Canal at and west of Hythe and advance along the line from Hythe rail station to Saltwood to prevent any flanking moves by the British. 2. Kampfgruppe “Stentzler” led by Major Edgar Stentzler, the commander of the II. Battalion of the Air Landing Assault Regiment was to drop and seize the heights at Paddlesworth and hold off any counter-attacks. These two groups would be timed to drop as the landing craft carrying 17th Infantry Division hit the beach near Folkestone. 3. Kampfgruppe “Bräuer” was to drop an hour later south of Postling. This enlarged group would consist of a complete parachute battalion, a parachute engineer battalion, the antitank company of FJR1, all of FJR2 and FJR3, and an extra battalion as divisional reserve. Once landed, Kampfgruppe “Bräuer” was to take Stentzler’s group under its command and the combined force was to take Sandgate and the high ground west of Paddlesworth. FJR2 was to move north of Postling and guard against attack from the north while FJR3 was to secure the western flank with one battalion detached to capture and hold Lympe airfield for a later fly-in by 22nd Air Landing Division, possibly as late as S plus 5. 22nd Air Landing Infantry Division: Generalleutnant Hans Graf von Sponeck (under OKH control, but temporarily placed under the command of the 16th Army on 20 September 1940) Bau-Lehr- Regiment z.b.V. 800 “Brandenburg” (In Invasion of England 1940: The Planning of Operation Sealion, author Peter Schenk notes very little source material exists on the role of the “Brandenburg” commandos in the operation. Schenk reconstructed the probable missions of the commandos from what little exits in the records of the first wave divisions and the recollections of former members of the regiment.) 16th Army Area of Operations • A 131- man commando team with 50 light motorcycles of the 1st Company of the I. Battalion would cross the channel with the 35th Infantry Division—one platoon with the division’s advanced detachment and one with Panzer Battalion D. Another commando team from the I. Battalion with three reconnaissance tanks would also land with the 17th Infantry Division. Upon landing, the “Brandenburg” company would link up with a combat group led by Oberst Edmund Hoffmeister, the commander of Infantry Regiment 21 of the 17th Infantry Division. Composed of elements of the 17th Infantry Division, the 7th Flieger-Division, corps-level support troops and Panzer Battalion B, Hoffmeister’s battle group would push up the coast to Dover. The “Brandenburg” company would assist by taking out British positions on the coast and along the Royal Military Canal as well as suspected artillery positions to the north. • Another commando team consisting of elements of the regimental intelligence unit and most of the 4th Company of the I. Battalion would land with the first wave and attack Dover directly to prevent the sinking of block ships in the harbor entrance and to neutralize the coastal batteries on the Dover heights. (An alternative to landing this commando team with the first wave troops might have been the use of about 25 fast motorboats, i.e., customs authority and police boats, under command of Korvettenkapitän Strempel. Author Peter Schenk notes that Strempel was never informed of his objective, but it was likely Dover.) 9th Army Area of Operations • The 11th Company of the III. Battalion was allocated to the 9th Army for first wave employment as follows: two commando teams of 72 and 38 men